Race

Jumping in the deep end.

Ever since the devastation of Katrina, I’ve been curious about the social implications of what happened. One thing that I heard a lot from commentators and opinion people was that this was a tragedy of epic proportions and that this exposed the deep-seeded nature of racism in America. Even someone like Kanye West made perhaps the boldest statement of all in declaring that “George Bush doesn't care about black people.” (See here for the video clip of it. You need QuickTime for it.)

What all of that has done is get me thinking about race and the Christian disciple, particularly my relationship with people of different colors. One of my greatest fears is for someone to call me a racist, because I feel like I try very hard to not show preference to one race over another, but also, because in some ways I worry if I really am a racist or not.

To be completely honest, I am extremely judgmental about things. I look at a person and form an opinion about him or her almost immediately. And that is completely based on physical attributes, while my judgments on those are completely formed by society. For instance, attractive, thin blond female wearing a shirt and pants that show her stomach and I will have a positive opinion of her, but for an African-American male wearing baggy clothes and I will probably be pretty wary of him. A Hispanic male looking grungy and dirty and my first thought is whether or not he is an illegal alien.

Now please understand. I realize the mistakes in this and in my life I try to rectify them. I almost feel like this is a genetic sin because of where I’ve grown up (the American South) and the deeply inherent feelings about race. But you know the funny thing is that I rarely think about the fact that I am a white male. And I think that’s because neither my race nor my sex is a barrier to me in anything I want to do. I don’t have cops following me around a mall just watching me. I can get any job that I want to have, from preacher to salesperson without limit. So I wonder what it’s like to go through life with the color of my skin being one of the defining characteristics to my self identity and how others perceive me.

I feel like I’ve rambled through a lot of this and I didn’t even really hit on what I think is a bigger barrier in America than race and that’s socio-economic status (for instance, how do you evacuate from a hurricane area when you don’t have a car or money for a hotel?). What I do want is to pray that God will give me eyes that respect and see the value of each person that I encounter. That I will see Jesus in them and love them for who they are as someone created in God’s image. I don’t want color blind eyes. I want to see in full color as Ralph Ellison described in The Invisible Man. I want to be able to judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said.

This is imperative for me as a follower of Christ. It’s imperative for all of us.